Throughout aviation history, countless impostors and scammers have forged fraudulent pilot licenses to get free flights, lounge access, and other privileges. But one man, Thomas Salme of Stockholm, Sweden, went as far as flying for nearly 15 years before getting caught.
So what happened with Salme’s tenure flying? Did he make any mistakes? Was his punishment harsh? Here’s the story of Thomas Salme, the fraud pilot who successfully flew without a license.
Salme’s Stockholm Roots
Thomas Henry Salme was born on 18 February 1969 in Jordbro, Sweden, near Stockholm. Salme pursued a career in flying because his father was an aviation enthusiast and photographer. Because of financial restrictions surrounding the family, Salme never had any formal pilot training but obtained a private pilot’s license for small planes after his mom died of cancer, and he received an inheritance.
The license he obtained later expired and would have never been good enough to fly a commercial jet. Undeterred, Salme got a job at Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) as a maintenance engineer. He built rapport with colleagues and convinced them to give him access to a Boeing 737 flight simulator at Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN).
Salme used the simulator in private for over 18 months. He logged up to 60 hours on it, studied technical manuals, and practiced flight procedures.
‘I’d train there for two or three hours at a time – at least 15 to 20 times over one and a half years,’ Salme recalled.
Salme’s Shortcut
In 1997, Salme photocopied a fraudulent pilot license with his picture and logos. The license, which was made of paper and wasn’t laminated, had a fake ID number. He had also used a false resumé and other paperwork to apply as a pilot in Europe. One of the airlines on his resumé was ‘Aladdin Airlines,’ which didn’t exist.
Salme got hired as a co-pilot for Air One in Italy. As a prerequisite for the job, Salme passed a simulator test in Dublin, impressing examiners despite his nerves. His first real flight, a domestic route to Naples with 148 passengers, was his first time piloting a commercial jet outside a simulator. Salme believed flying the real Boeing was easier than the simulator.
He was later promoted to captain in 1999 and flew with the low-cost Italian carrier until 2006. Reports suggest that Salme may have been fired after the airline found out he was a fraud pilot and that his license wasn’t real, but that is unconfirmed.
After working at Air One, he joined Corendon Airlines from Turkey (now Türkiye). He worked there for a year before being offered a pilot job at low-cost British airline Jet2.
Salme worked at Jet2 for only ten months before deciding to return to Corendon. Between the three airlines, Salme accumulated 10,000 hours in flight without valid commercial pilot credentials.
Salme appeared to be a very skillful pilot, having no accidents, and at one point, managed to land a jet with one working engine following a bird strike.
The Fun Stops for Salme
Swedish authorities later caught on to Salme’s sketchy flight past. On 2 March 2010, Salme was about to pilot a Boeing with 101 passengers out of Schiphol Airport (AMS) in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on the way to Ankara, Turkey. Authorities boarded the plane and escorted Salme right out of the cockpit. Salme then confessed that his license was forged.
The fraud pilot story made international headlines, and Salme refused to attend his hearing the following month due to the media attention he received. According to his defense attorney, his career flying was the only way forward for him financially in order to handle divorce and take care of his children and his ailing father.
Salme originally faced three months in jail and a large fine, but he ultimately served no jail time and was only hit with a penalty of $2,700 (€2,000). He would also be banned from flying for one year, but he was welcome to fly commercially again if he obtained a commercial license.
Thomas Salme, however, had no plans to fly again. He now works as a photographer in Milan, Italy. He later wrote a book called Confessions of a Fraud Pilot and was the subject of a documentary titled This is Your Captain Speaking.
